slings

[Cave_Troll]

Can anyone explain to me the difference between EN534 and EN566 when applied to sewn nylon slings

 

[Stu]

What have you come up with or where have you seen it?

All I can come up with (as I'm sure you have) is that EN566 is for slings (565 is webbing). EN534 would appear to be for lanyards, which could be a sling in some way incorporated into a safety system: I'm thinking something like the very specific tape you have on a Via Ferrata connection.

 

[Cave_Troll]

sorry i mean EN354 not 534

I'm being told that our slings need to comply with EN354 even though both that and EN566 both specify 22kN

Is EN354 a whole system where EN566 is an individual conponment?
most manufacturers i can find - even the industrial pages - state their slings satisfy EN566 but make no mention of EN354. only one (SAR http://www.sar-products.com/SAR_Circular_slings.html) mentions 354

 

[Stu]

Odd because if you Google "EN534 slings" there is a link to an EN534:2000.

Anyway, found this


http://fallarrestsystems.blogspot.com/

Seems like 566 deals with the sling and 354 with application i.e. lanyards

Sounds like Lyon Equipment could be of help 

 

[Stu]

I'd say 354 is definitely dealing with Lanyards (well it keeps cropping up in Google searches. Could be that whoever is saying they must comply might be mistaken.

 

[Cave_Troll]

Cheers
I'll see if any of the caving Level3 IRATAs or NickW comment before I ask Lyon

 

[nickwilliams]

I'd have to spend some time on this to give you a clear answer, but one factor may be that EN 566 is a mountaineering equipment standard whereas EN 354 is a general PPE standard. The PPE Directive, under which these standards are harmonised, requires PPE to provide "the highest possible level of protection" so this is what the general PPE standards do, but the mountaineering standards frequently contain lesser requirements (usually in the form of more than one class of equipment) than the maximum which are technically feasible.

This is partly because of the trade-off between performance and weight which is more important for climbers than for professional roped access workers, but also it's a recognition of the fact that there's not much point in making manufacturers of climbing gear provide the highest level of protection when any sane person would not try to hang off a cliff by their fingernails in the first place.

Nick.

 

[Stu]

Has a definitive answer been found for this?

 

[Bob Mehew]

Has a definitive answer been found for this?

No but the simple answer to ?will a sling marked 566 meet 354? is no.  Having had a chance to read the two standards, much of the differences are in ?fine? detail but significantly 354:2002 does require both a dynamic & static strength test if it is has an adjustment device where as 566:2006 only requires a static strength test.  The static strength tests have the same value of 22kN but different cross head speeds which could make some difference in their performance.  Having said that, who knows if a 556 sling with adjustment device would have a reasonable chance of meeting the dynamic test.  I have never tried a 556 sling out but I did had a healthy respect for the performance of tape (looped using a tape knot) in dynamic testing until my last submitted sample broke very unexpectedly on its 2nd drop!

I should apologise to Cave Troll for omitting the bit about adjustment device which makes much more sense for the requirement of a dynamic test.

I won't get into the potential for dispute over issue of non PPE gear for use at work as I now recognise my rusty knowledge base, save to say no doubt some one would argue about it.